Wednesday Liturgy: Follow-up: Mass With the Society of St. Pius X

ROME, JULY 5, 2011 (Zenit.org (http://www.zenit.org)).- Answered by Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.

In the wake of our commentaries on the present status of the Society of St. Pius X (see June 21 (http://www.zenit.org/article-32905?l=english)), a New York reader asked about another group.

"You have recently answered a question regarding Society of St. Pius X. Could you give as detailed an answer regarding the Society of St. Pius V. The group is splintered off from SSPX. Quite rigid in that if you go to Mass there, in order to receive [Communion] you must first go to confession to their priest. This turned me off, knowing nothing else of them."

While I am no expert on splinter groups, it would appear that the Society of St. Pius V (Societas Sacerdotalis Sancti Pii Quinti, or SSPV) operates only in North America. Its principal base is Oyster Bay, New York.

It was formed when a group of nine priests split from the Society of St. Pius X in 1983. Some of these priests were later illicitly ordained bishops, including the current leader of the group.

It would appear that the initial differences referred to the acceptance of the missal issued under Pope John XXIII, although later events showed that the liturgical aspects masked much deeper theological discrepancies.

The Society of St. Pius X, founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, while questioning some aspects of the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and the liturgical reform, recognizes the validity of the sacraments celebrated according to the new rites and the legitimacy of the Holy Father.

The Society of St. Pius V (which later splintered further) maintains that many Catholic bishops no longer adhere to the Catholic faith but instead profess a new modernist religion. They also claim that the possibility that the See of Peter has been vacant since the death of Pius XII is an open question.

This belief that they are the last bastion of the true Catholic Church, and their doubt regarding the validity of ordinations performed under the new rites, probably explain why our reader was told that she would have to first confess with one of their priests before receiving Communion.

On one of their websites the rules regarding reception of Communion are expressed as follows:

"One must accept and profess all the teachings of the Catholic Church. One must believe and abide by the traditional Catholic moral teaching, especially in regard to purity and marriage. Therefore, if someone has received an annulment since 1968, it is first necessary to talk to the priest outside the confessional before receiving Holy Communion.

"One must, of course, be in the state of sanctifying grace to receive Holy Communion, having made a good confession to a Catholic priest ordained in the traditional rite, which rite was used before 1968.

"Young people must be trained in the traditional Catechism, such as the Baltimore Catechism, and they must be tested in the traditional Catechism by a traditional priest. They must also have made a good confession to a traditional priest.

"One must be fasting from solid foods and alcoholic beverages for three hours and from liquids for one hour. Water does not break the fast and may be taken at any time.

"If one, being in the state of grace, has resolved to attend the traditional Latin Mass regularly and exclusively, he is welcome to receive Holy Communion here."

It should also be noted that since they do not use the missal promulgated by Blessed John XXIII but that of the 1954 edition, their Mass does not fall under the norms issued by Pope Benedict XVI in Summorum Pontificum.

For this and other obvious reasons a faithful Catholic should not participate in any of their activities or celebrations.